A Writer's Muse

As a Cappie, I have a somewhat unique sense of humor. So yes, I think the cartoon above is funny! In reality, I think that all writers go through this from time to time. Whatever is getting in our way, we just need to work our way through. We just need to "Write the %&!$@# story!". 

So what exactly is this magical muse that is going to come along and save our butts? Where do we find him/her? And at what cost? Our muse supposedly helps us to be more creative, to put the ultimate spin on things so that our work sells. (That is the point, after all!) One way of looking at our muse is that we are simply connecting with our inner child. I don't know about you, but my inner child needs help from time to time! 

We need to do two things - allow ourselves to be creative enough to come up with amazing plots that have not been worked to death, and characters that our readers can connect with. So what if our characters have a fatal flaw - they are real! Our readers will cheer for them! Then we take all of this bizarre, creative stuff and visit the logical side of our brain so that we can place everything in proper order so that it at least looks like it could actually happen.

By this time we are starting to feel as if we might be developing multiple personalities. As long as no one else realizes this, we are okay. We can pull this all together by recognizing that our creative muse resides in our unconscious - that it can access our dreams, and our hidden memories.  Our muse will appear to us however it wants to - we just need to go with the flow. 

Our muse (our unconscious self) and our critic (our conscious self) have to work together to meld everything into a story that makes sense, has depth (without falling off the edge), and entertains. Above all, to sell, our stories need to entertain.

Never be afraid to allow both your muse and your critic free reign. They will come to an understanding, and you will be putting amazing stories out there!

(c) May 2019 Bonnie Cehovet

Reproduction prohibited without written permission from the author. 

Should We Write About What We Know, Or Can We Make Stuff Up?

The majority of my writing will be in the genre of fiction, so it might be assumed that I will be making stuff up. To a small extent, this is true. I can create an environment that does not exist, I can create characters that inhabit it, and I can create the situations that they face. But if I wander too far, I will lose my readers.  

Come on - this is fiction, anything goes! No, anything does not go. As writers, we want people to be able to follow our storylines. If they are confused about a storyline, or are simply not drawn to it, we have lost them. They won't want to finish the book that they are reading, and they will have no reason to purchase our future books.

My current WIP has its basis in the 60's and 70's. My major characters are remote viewers that have the ability to change, to some extent, what they see. They work for a private organization that is global in nature, and were recruited right out of college. They are charged with protecting the cultural assets of all nations, and their work is clandestine by nature. 

Given the nature of my WIP, which is a mystery, and not science fiction, I need to do the research that will make it sound credible - less James Bond and more  John Q. Public. Our stories, to be accepted, need to reflect daily life. After all, we do want to sell books! As many boundaries as we push in our stories, they need to make sense. The excitement generated in our stories comes from our readers believing that these things can really happen, and that there are consequences for what happens. 

Personally, I am tasked with making the use of metaphysical powers seem real, and available to everyone (which they actually are). I will need to show how my characters came into these powers, and how they affected their lives. How a son who never knew his father has inherited his tendency towards evil on steroids.

Where is your writing taking you?

(c) May 2019 Bonnie Cehovt

Reproduction prohibited without written permission from the author.    

Hawk and Raven - Spirit Allies

We all walk in several different worlds. Those worlds cross-over to help keep us balanced. As writers, we use the wisdom from all of our worlds to give our stories life. On the most recent new moon I chose to journey - as in shamanic journeying. At its core, a journey is simply traveling from one place to another.  Shamanic journeying involves communicating with our inner, spiritual self. This is where we find our answers - within ourselves. 

I found myself working with two spirit allies - Hawk and Raven. The interesting thing here is that Hawk energy was the "front" energy, essentially masking (to others) the energy of Raven. The energy of Hawk gifts us with the ability to see intuitively, to be able to observe and to face challenges. Hawk energy is also protective energy. For me, at this time, Hawk will help me to stay focused and achieve my goals. 

The question here is why Hawk would mask the energy of Raven in my life. There is a good reason for this! The energy of Raven is that of bringing magic to a situation. To place power behind my intention and will, I need to be willing to access my shadow side and heal. Great change is ahead, and I need to be ready for it. 

Essentially, Hawk is protecting me while Raven walks me through great change.

What are your spirit allies? Are you willing to work with them? What understanding, what changes, are they bringing to you? How will this be reflected in your writing?

(c) May 2019 Bonnie Cehovet

Reproduction prohibited without written permission from the author.

Editing An Already Published Book

As soon as I get my latest book review done, I am going to start line by line editing the latest book from my co-author Brad Tesh and myself ("Invisible Me - Journeying Through The Soul"). It has been up for a few weeks now, but we saw errors immediately (some mine, some errors in formatting). I decided to wait a month or so, then go through the book edit, and put it back up.

Are you aware that there is even a YouTube video on this exact thing! ("How To Edit Kindle Books You Have Already Published") I probably shouldn't have been surprised - but I was! I mean - Brad and I aren't the only people this has happened to! KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) of course has this covered too - "How Do I Edit A Published Book". 

Most times the edits will be minor - spacing, typos, spelling errors, words that were inadvertently left out. Especially if you edited your own book, as we did, it is easy to see what you "know" should be there, as opposed to what is appearing on the written page. Other times you will have an epiphany, and a major edit is in order! The good thing is that as a self-published author, you can do this. 

For a comprehensive look at what you should be looking for when editing, see "How To Edit A Book For Self-Publishing Success", by Joseph Hogue, CFA.

(c) May 2019 Bonnie Cehovet

Reproduction prohibited without written permission of the author.

NaNoWriMo

I have not participated in NaNoWriMo for several years now. So, what exactly is this NaNoWriMo? Officially, it is called National Novel Writing Month, and it is held every November. It is an Internet-based writing project that is free for anyone to take part in. The goal is to write a 50,000-word manuscript between November 1st and November 30th.  

Why in my infinite wisdom am I participating this year? Because I am in the process of writing the first in a series of three mystery novels that are not in the cozy mystery genre, and that genre is the one that I want to focus on. So I will continue writing the first novel in the non-cozy mystery genre, and doing the month of November I will focus my writing on my cozy mystery novel. The best of all possible worlds (I hope!).

You can find out more about NaNoWriMo here.  I hope to see many of you participating!

NaNoWriMo on Twitter.

NaNoWriMo on Facebook.

(c) May 2019 Bonnie Cehovet

Reproduction prohibited without written permission from the author.